I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 521

To reauthorize the National Writing Project, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 21, 1993

Mr. MILLER of California (for himself, Mr. OWENS, Mrs. UNSOELD, Ms. NORTON, Ms. PELOSI, Mr. FOGLIETTA, Mr. RANGEL, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. MAZZOLI, Mr. FROST, Ms. KAPTUR, Mrs. MORELLA, Mr. MATSUI, and Mr.

MFUME) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor

A BILL

To reauthorize the National Writing Project, and for other

purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Writing

5 Project Reauthorization Act of 1993’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Section 201 of the Education Council Act of 1991

8 (hereafter in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Act’’) is amend9 ed—
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1 (1) by amending paragraph (2) to read as fol2 lows:

3 ‘‘(2) the writing problem has been magnified by

4 the rapidly changing student populations in the Na5 tion’s schools and the growing number of students

6 who are at risk because of limited-English pro7 ficiency;’’;

8 (2) in paragraph (6)—

9 (A) by inserting ‘‘writing and reading are

10 both fundamental to learning, yet writing has

11 been historically neglected in the schools and

12 colleges, and’’ before ‘‘most’’; and

13 (B) by striking the comma before ‘‘have’’;

14 (3) by amending paragraph (10) to read as fol15 lows:

16 ‘‘(10) the National Writing Project has become

17 a model for programs to improve teaching in such

18 other fields as mathematics, science, history, lit19 erature, performing arts, and foreign languages;’’;

20 (4) by amending paragraph (15) to read as fol21 lows:

22 ‘‘(15) each year over 100,000 teachers volun23 tarily seek training in National Writing Project in24 tensive summer institutes and workshops and school25 year in-service programs through one of the 154 re-
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1 gional sites located in 45 States, the Commonwealth

2 of Puerto Rico, and in 4 sites that serve United

3 States teachers teaching in United States dependent

4 and independent schools;’’;

5 (5) by striking paragraph (17);

6 (6) by redesignating paragraph (18) as para7 graph (17);

8 (7) in paragraph (17) (as redesignated in para9 graph (7)), by striking the period at the end thereof

10 and inserting a semicolon; and

11 (8) by adding at the end the following new

12 paragraphs:

13 ‘‘(18) independent evaluation studies have

14 found the National Writing Project to be highly cost

15 effective compared to other professional development

16 programs for teachers; and

17 ‘‘(19) during 1991, the first year of Federal

18 support for the National Writing Project, the Na19 tional Writing Project matched the $1,951,975 in

20 Federal support with $9,485,504 in matching funds

21 from State, local, and other sources.’’.

22 SEC. 3. NATIONAL WRITING PROJECT.

23 Section 202 of the Act is amended—

24 (1) in subsection (d)—

25 (A) in paragraph (3)—
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1 (i) by striking the subparagraph des2 ignation ‘‘(A)’’; and

3 (ii) by striking subparagraph (B); and

4 (B) by striking paragraph (4);

5 (2) in subsection (e)—

6 (A) in the matter preceding subparagraph

7 (A) of paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘to enable’’

8 and inserting ‘‘to pay the Federal share of the

9 cost of enabling’’; and

10 (B) by adding at the end the following new

11 paragraph:

12 ‘‘(4) FEDERAL SHARE.—For the purpose of

13 this subsection the term ‘‘Federal share’’ means,

14 with respect to the costs of activities assisted under

15 this subsection, 50 percent of such costs to the ele16 mentary or secondary school teacher.’’;

17 (3) by amending subsection (g) to read as fol18 lows:

19 ‘‘(g) EVALUATION.—

20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall con21 duct an independent evaluation of the teacher train22 ing programs assisted under this section. Such eval23 uation shall specify the amount of funds expended

24 by the National Writing Project and each contractor

25 receiving assistance under this section. The results
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1 of such evaluation shall be made available to the ap2 propriate committees of the Congress.

3 ‘‘(2) FUNDING LIMITATION.—The Secretary

4 shall reserve not more than $150,000 from the total

5 amount appropriated pursuant to the authority of

6 subsection (i) for fiscal year 1994 and the 4 suc7 ceeding fiscal years to conduct the evaluation de8 scribed in paragraph (1).’’;

9 (4) by amending subsection (h) to read as fol10 lows:

11 ‘‘(h) RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES.—

12 ‘‘(1) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.—From amounts

13 appropriated pursuant to the authority of subsection

14 (i)(2), the National Writing Project shall make

15 grants to individuals and institutions of higher edu16 cation that either have participated in a National

17 Writing Project institute or are institutions des18 ignated as National Writing Project sites, to enable

19 such individuals and institutions to conduct research

20 activities involving the teaching of writing.

21 ‘‘(2) APPLICATION REVIEW.—The National

22 Writing Project shall establish and operate a Na23 tional Review Board that shall consist of—

24 ‘‘(A) leaders in the field of research in

25 writing; and
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1 ‘‘(B) such other individuals as the Na2 tional Writing Project deems necessary.

3 ‘‘(3) DUTIES.—The National Review Board

4 shall—

5 ‘‘(A) review all applications for assistance

6 under this subsection; and

7 ‘‘(B) recommended applications for assist8 ance under this subsection for funding by the

9 National Writing Project.

10 ‘‘(4) JUNIOR RESEARCHER PRIORITY AND

11 FUNDING RULE.—(A) In awarding grants pursuant

12 to paragraph (1), the National Writing Project shall

13 give priority to awarding such grants to junior re14 searchers.

15 ‘‘(B) The National Writing Project shall award

16 not less than 25 percent of the funds received pursu17 ant to subsection (i)(2) to junior researchers.

18 ‘‘(5) AVAILABILITY OF FINDINGS.—The Na19 tional Writing Project shall make available to the

20 Secretary and to the network of National Writing

21 Project sites the findings of the research conducted

22 pursuant to the authority of paragraph (1).’’; and

23 (5) in subsection (i)—

24 (A) in paragraph (1)—
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1 (i) by striking ‘‘1991’’ and inserting

2 ‘‘1994’’; and

3 (ii) by striking ‘‘fiscal years 1992 and

4 1993’’ and inserting ‘‘each of the 4 suc5 ceeding fiscal years’’; and

6 (B) by amending paragraph (2) to read as

7 follows:

8 ‘‘(2) RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT.—In each

9 fiscal year in which the amount appropriated pursu10 ant to the authority of paragraph (1) equals or ex11 ceeds $10,000,000, there are authorized to be appro12 priated $500,000 to carry out the provisions of sub13 section (h).’’.

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